Navy cyber cafes keep many in touch

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Since the Navy began setting up "Internet cafes" for soldiers
overseas to keep in touch with their loved ones, almost 200 of the
high-tech tents have sprung up in war zones.

Two years ago, civilians working for the Navy started the $US20
million program to set up communications systems - basically
tents with 20 laptop computers and eight telephones - as a
morale boost for Army soldiers stationed in Iraq.

Now there are 183 of the sites in Iraq, four in Afghanistan and
even two aboard oil platforms in the Persian Gulf that are manned
by the US military, said project manager and retired Marine Steve
Rhorer.

"I manage it all from here," he says, opening his arms wide
during a recent interview in his small office cubicle at the
military base just a few miles up the river from historic downtown
Charleston.

Rhorer is part of the Navy's research and development arm known
as SPAWAR, which designs and installs communications gear and
maintains other high-tech items for many government agencies that
involve gleaning battlefield intelligence, surveillance information
or support for military aircraft control towers.

The mobile communication stations were developed here. Each unit
is contained in a 640-square-foot tent outfitted with printers, air
conditioning, generators and satellite communication sets. Each
site is designed to serve about 1,000 soldiers.

Rhorer said his unit hopes to begin sending smaller tents to
more remote areas of Iraq and Afghanistan to serve groups of 400 to
500 soldiers. "We want to expand. We are looking at half-size
cafes," he said.

The cyber cafes' No. 1 enemy isn't insurgent attacks; it's the
dust, Rhorer said. "The dust is just a killer. You are involved in
constant preventive maintenance," he said

Showing how the Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol system works,
Rhorer dialed up a co-worker in Iraq, Troy Caffey, a civilian with
31 years in the Navy.

Caffey, who spoke from a site north of Baghdad, said he's
pleased the systems have helped soldiers stay in contact with their
families and friends.

"In all the years I was in the Navy, there was a lot of
separation anxiety. I don't feel any of that here at all," he
said.

In recent years, e-mail communication has become easier for
sailors on some larger ships and at some high-tech military bases
around the world, but it was not available to most soldiers in the
field.

Caffey said the cafe at his base is very busy. Even at 4am,
"there's always someone here. ... This place is in constant use 24
hours a day," he said.

The e-mail service is free and phone calls cost about 4.7 cents
a minute. Soldiers can pay by credit card or families can prepay
for them.